Shoppers swarm stores for early Black Friday bargains

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SALT LAKE CITY -- Many Utah shoppers skipped pumpkin pie for dessert this Thanksgiving as they had Black Friday deals to attend to.

Retail stores like Target and Best Buy opened Thursday afternoon. Hundreds of people waited in line for hours and, in some cases, days.

"Oh my gosh I'm just so excited to shop, really get out there and get what I want for Christmas," said Mattie Folster.

In Murray, Andrew Castaneda and his friend had been waiting in line outside Best Buy since Tuesday. They couldn't wait to spring through those doors, make their purchase, and load those $200 50 inch TVs onto their truck.

"I mean I got to pay my tuition I got books and things to pay off, I got things to save, I can't be spending all kinds of money," said Castaneda, who estimates he and his friend saved a combined $700.

With only 20 of the TVs in stock, many customers had to settle for the next best deal.

"We came two hours early but it wasn't early enough apparently, they came out with some tickets for the 55 inch so we decided to do that," said Robert Clontz.

In order to keep the sanity, Best Buy only allows 75 customers inside at a time, and has a staff of 100 employes on duty which is four times more than usual.

"You know it's what the customers want, you kind of hear a lot of people say why are you open on Thanksgiving but then you see how many people are in line here," said Best Buy Manager Bryan Dee.

The sales go beyond electronics, just ask the folks who waited outside Gordmans in Midvale for two hours.

"Twenty-five percent off anything you can shove into a bag, I mean come on, clothes for the kids," said Kathryn Hargis.

Many of these bargain hunters said they enjoy the new tradition of bombarding stores on Thanksgiving Day.